Europe midday: Shares flat with eyes on Fed's Powell, EZ GDP

(Sharecast News) - European shares were flat at midday as investors digested another dump of corporate earnings and GDP data from the eurozone and UK while waiting for comments from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was flat at 543 points with major regional bourses slightly higher.

Oil prices dropped more than 3.5% to just above $60 a barrel on a potential U.S.-Iran nuclear deal that could ease sanctions and boost supply of crude. The news hit oil majors, with BP and Shell both down.

Investors are awaiting remarks from Powell later in the day along with US retail sales data

In economic news, European Union statistics body Eurostat cut its estimate for eurozone growth in the first quarter of the year to 0.3%, down from its initial estimate last month of 0.4% growth.

Britain's economy posted a surprise 0.7% expansion in the first quarter, although economists warned that they expected growth to moderate later in the year after the impact of US tariffs became clearer.

On the equities front, Serco shares jumped as the UK government contractor won three deals worth more than �1bn with the Royal Navy.

Merck fell as the German pharmaceutical company cut its full-year outlook on Thursday amid macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty and foreign-exchange headwinds.

3i fell after posting results and Siemens was also down despite forecasting an increase in full-year sales by between 3% - 7% as it reported better-than-expected profit during its second quarter.

Thyssenkrupp slumped by 11.68% after the engineering group's second-quarter operating profit plunged.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com